Is it appropriate for a parent to meet with HS guidance counselor, with child to talk through course selection?
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Anonymous
| Or is this too helicoptery? |
Anonymous
| At our school parents have to sign off on it. But no not helicoptery to meet either. |
Anonymous
| My kid’s counselor usually didn’t show up for the quick meeting she was supposed to have with my kid. They try to knock out an entire class of 30 kids in one period at our school. So it’s not something I’d try to do every year, barring particular needs. But if you have an open and good counselor, it’s fine and you might get some insight on teachers, etc. Anything we can help you with? If you’re looking for advice on pathways for college admission, parents here might be just as helpful. |
Anonymous
| I don’t think it’s helicoptery initially, but I do think over time as a parent you need to step back from this and let your kid take the lead. Also, word to the wise, don’t expect significant help or expertise from the counselor with regards to course selection. You be better taking with the Resource Teacher (ie subject Team Lead) or students current teacher. |
Anonymous
| Curious why not meet with your child yourself the night before and go through it using the online course bulleting etc. Then you know exactly what the child is selecting and can work on it together at your own pace |
Anonymous
| My experience is that the high schools expect the kids to do this on their own without parental input, which I honestly don't think is wise since course selection can have an impact on college options. But that's the way MCPS has historically and continues to do things with registration. |
Anonymous
| I think it's fine, if you're lucky enough to be able to schedule such a meeting. |
Anonymous
Trying to figure out balance of APs vs not APs for DS who will be a junior. Kid had a great freshman year (Honors Alg 2, couldn't take APUSH bc of the program he's in which includes more rigorous humanities classes, Honors Bio, Spanish 3, etc) but is having a difficult time this year: dropped Honors pre-cal to regular Pre-Calc but doing great, struggling in Honors Chem, doing well in Spanish 4, struggling in AP Gov Next year: don't know if he should take AP Lang or English 11; AP World or something else; AP Calc AB or Calc with applications; Honors Physics or AP Environ Science. Kid has ADHD and is bright but just not that interested in school. He seems worn down by the grind already, not wanting to put in effort and generally hating academic life right now. Maybe he's depressed? But he's active and happy in his sport and has a great group of friends that he sees regularly. I just don't know how to best support and guide him and feel frustrated that there is nobody at his giant MCPS school that can help make some of these decisions. |
Anonymous
Because we don't know how many APs will be too much; don't understand the workload of each course nor how to balance the number of APs against recommended rigor for college applications. Not gunning for top25 or 50 at all. |
Anonymous
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This is what I did. At the time, schools were emerging from virtual learning, and my son has ADHD and high functioning autism, so I tagged along to make sure he didn’t miss anything. He’s in college now and I’m very hands-off. But as a senior in high school, he was overwhelmed and needed a lot of support. |
Anonymous
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No, you don't need to meet with your child's counselor about course selection. Your child knows what they want to take, and you just need to sign off. The counselor doesn't have time to meet with 150+ parents/students
I say this as a parent of 2 mcps graduates and a 3rd currently in HS. Unless your child has some special needs (amd maybe a resource class), your involvement is just a signature |
Anonymous
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I think it’s fine. But I doubt you’ll be successful. Typically from what I’ve seen in they might meet with your kid and let you know the meeting happened. But given their caseloads and other responsibilities, they don’t have time for meetings.
If you have specific questions, they might answer an email but to guarantee for that either. |
Anonymous
Me again. This was for the only face-to-face meeting he had with his counselor, due to a school switch and the pandemic: he had an appointment in August before the start of 12th grade, so I went too. The counselor was trying to catch all the kids she hadn't seen before senior year started, and it was to make sure he had a list of colleges, or failing that, to give him a list, and to get to know him a tiny bit to write the letter of recommendation. If you have specific concerns, OP, I suggest you write to the counselor, asking for an appointment with yourself and your child. The intense flurry of letters of recommendations has passed already (it was in Sept-Nov), and even though they're always busy, meeting with students and families is part of their job description! |
Anonymous
I would recommend emailing the counselor about these questions and speaking with friends. I don't think the counselor will be able to give you enough face to face time to get through those questions. However in an email she maybe able to say that "kids in his cohort typically take xyz" |
Anonymous
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Parents and other kids may know better than a counselor.
Counselors don't usually deal with the individual needs of successful children. They just process their schedules. They meet with kids who have problems when it's so bad the kids might need credit recovery or a transfer intra-year. You have subtle questions. I would keep posting here but maybe identify the high school to get more precise advice. |